The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-31
Alcohol and Health.

We are glad to note that the various BOOKS
on hygiene recently prepared for use in schools
and in homes give no uncertain testimony as
to the evils arising even from the moderate
use of alcohol. We quote as follows from a
book on 1.-The Principles of Hygiene, !" recently
published by Ivison & Co., N. Y: 1T can
be said of alcoholic liquors, that there IS moth
ing. in them so desirable as to make 1t worm
while to use them unless it can be shown that
the alcohol is needed. When we come to
study the relation Of alcohol to food, first OF
all we are impressed by the fact that it Is not
found in nature, as are such foods as are
essential for the maintenance Of life and
health. No analysis Of foods ever finds 1t
present in them as an article to be taken into
The human system. II it had any such food
value as was once claimed for it, this omission
would have been most surprising one
When we turn to the physiology OF digestion,
and of the appropriation of foods in the sys-
tenn, we find nothing whatever to indicate
that it was ever intended to be used by man
kind as q food Every advance in chemistry,
and the knowledge Of the relations OF food to
human force and vitality, has been an ad-
vance away from the re ;ognition OF acohoL
Such authorities as Liebig, Moleschott, Pet'
tenkofer, Volt, Konig, Bencke, Melnert,
Payen. Frankland, Playfair, Lewes Smith,
Parks, Prescott, Nichols and Atwater gave it
no place in any standard daily rations.
"Before chemistry assigned alcohol its
proper place, experience had classed it among
the toxics. Persons affected by it were not
said to be fed overmuch, but to be intoM-
Gated Toxic is the Greek word for poison.
We can turn to no book to-day, in chemistry
or hygiene, and find it treated among the ar
ticles of food. If we have regard to the con-
venient division Of nitrogenized or hesh-form-
ing foods we soon find that it has no nitrogen,
ot ha
If we look for it among the neat-produclng
foods, we find that it does not respond to the
laws Of animal combustion, either by produc-
ing force or increasing heat. Notwithstand-
ing the sensation of heat produced by its con-
tact with the digestive track, or from other
causes, the thermometer and other tests show
that it produces q slight reduction or tem-
perature.
SIN common with opium, chloral, hasheesE
and some other stimulants, narcotics or ner-
vines, alcohol has some temporary action
where there has been a breach of natural
law by which the system has been thrown
into an abnormal condition. By such mo
mentary effect these steal their way into
recognition so as to have been called de-
ceptive foods. They create habit which IS
interpreted by the willing subject into O de-
mand.
"As a rule, the serious fact in reference
to alcohol is that it interferes with nutrl-
ton. 1t not only lacks food value OF Its
own. but it detracts from the value Of real
foods. It so affects the organs which have
to do with the assimilation and distribution
of food that they are incapacitated for or
are disturbed in the performance or their
functions.
'sIn addition to this it has been shown that
so-called moderate drinkers eventually have
impairment Of the vital acts OF digestion, and
that the stomach, the liver, the intestines and
the kidneys register effects which are preju-
dicial to health and long life.
Experience has preceded science in cross
ing it tfJm daily rations. This is more s.g-
nificant because the tables of food intended
for soldiers, for sailors, for those institutions
ami for those invalids have been studied out
by the very highest authotities, and nave
been tested by the most exact experience. IL
has been while in search after the best metl-
ods for getting the most intense force and
power of endurance out OF men IN natlonal
service by sea and by land that this evil spirit
has been cast out All other considerations
have been thrust aside, and on this material
basis alcohol has been retired from service
Where continuous power is desired for efti-
cient use it has no place. In training for
athletic sports or manual contests it is riSidly
excluded from the dietary even of those who
have been accustomed to its use. lt utterly
fails to be O nutrient or to answer the Pur-
poses for which foods are intended. In view
Of its appalling effects upon society even if it
were food it would need to be proven to be
a necessary food. 1t accomplishes so much
injury to human health and life that it ought
to be prohibited from use. Even rye would
be prohibited from use if no rye could be had
which had not ergot in it, and If the disease
known as ergotism came to be prevalent
among the people, as is disease from alcohol"
-Independe1lt